The Key to Miley's Heart
by Trish-Ah
Summary: Miley thought it was gone forever until he steps in and shows her it's not. Jiley oneshot, of course.


**So my story, "The Key To Lily's Heart" seemed to be quite popular and I'm really more than pleased that everyone enjoyed it so much. Yesterday on my way to work (yes, at six-thirty in the morning I even think about fan fiction) I couldn't help but think that I don't write Jiley's... and that I should. Then this idea popped up. It's about a locket, but... it's not the same storyline as Lily's. Dedicated to the Jiley readers out there.**

**I do not own Hannah Montana.**

Left and right, clothes had flung in the air and landed on several pieces of furniture as well as being scattered across the shaggy carpet of Miley Stewart's room.

"Where is it?!" A voice yelled in frustration from deep within the closet.

Lily Truscott stood at the entryway of Miley's room, an eyebrow raised. "Miley? Is that you?"

Miley didn't respond. Instead, a minute later, she made an appearance from her closet, her hair a mess, her eyes red, and her cheeks tear-stained. Her shirt was hanging halfway off her left shoulder and her PJ bottoms seemed to be facing a total direction. The back, which read **Popstar**, somehow showed halfway on the front. "I lost it," she whispered softly.

Lily quickly went to her friend's side, trying to fix her bottoms to be right and she lightly took Miley's shirt and fixed it so that it was hanging loosely off both shoulders. Miley didn't speak another word as Lily continued to fix her up. The tears threatened to fall once more.

"Loose what?"

Miley touched her chest and upon it laid a beautiful silver locket in the shape of a heart. In the middle of it was a keyhole. Lily recognized this locket as the one Miley's mother had given to her just before she passed away.

"The key."

"Wh-what?" Lily asked, looking Miley in the eye. "How could you have lost it?"

"I - I don't know," Miley cried and walked over to her bed. She collapsed upon it and hugged her pillow, crying harder into it. "I - I can't find it."

Lily sat on the edge of Miley's bed and softly began to rub Miley's back. "We'll find it. Did you look in the Hannah closet?"

"I looked everywhere!" Miley exclaimed and cried harder into her pillow. "I - I - my dad is going to _k - kill_ me."

"Do you remember where you had it last?" Lily asked and ran her hands through Miley's messy brown hair, trying to not only get the tangles out but try to calm her friend as well. It worked after several minutes.

"I - I remember having it on set." Miley took a deep breath. "When Jake and I were shooting the video for Zombie High."

Lily thought for a moment. "Do you think you left it there?"

"No," Miley shook her head and closed her eyes tightly. "I remember having it last night before I went to bed."

"Well retrace your steps," Lily said. "What exactly did you do before bed?"

**- The Key to Miley's Heart -**

_Miley walked into her room, her bathrobe wrapped tightly around her and her beautiful brown hair cascaded over her shoulders in wet curls. She just got out of the shower from a hard day at work and she couldn't until she went to bed. Making her way over to her bureau, Miley opened up her jewelry box and gently took out her silver locket. After placing it securely around her neck once more, she closed it and looked over to her bookcase. _

_Sitting upon the third shelf was a rose, dead and discolored. Several rose petals have fallen but have remained where they've fallen. Miley wasn't ready to rid of the rose - she couldn't, at least for several months. Today, though, she decided she had to. Jake Ryan was her first love and she was convinced that they wouldn't be together in the end. There were just too many things ripping them apart. And now? Now they were friends. Just friends. She had to throw her love for him away - and that's just what she did. Miley took the rose and threw it away. There was a loud _clunk_ in the small bin but she paid no mind to it. After all, the least of her worries was why a light rose would make a heavy sound in the trash can._

**- The Key to Miley's Heart -**

Suddenly, Miley sat up in her bed and looked at Lily, her eyes glistening with tears once again. "I think I threw it out."

"What?" Lily looked at Miley, confused. "Why would you do that?"

"Because - I did! I did!" Miley jumped off her bed and walked over to her bookcase, where the dead petals still laid but the rose was no where in their existence. "After I took a shower, I threw the rose out. And - yeah, I remember there was a key sitting next to it!" With high hopes, Miley suddenly went to her trash bin but her heart suddenly sank like a heavyweight.

It was empty. Not even the rose laid still in there.

Just then, Miley heard the loud sound of the garbage truck outside her home. She quickly ran by her window and looked through the dirty glass. "No... no..."

"What?" Lily stood up from the bed, only to feel herself being knocked down by Miley running past her.

Miley quickly made her way down the steps and as she made her way to the front door, she heard her dad calling to her from the kitchen.

"Hey bud, do you and Lily want some lunch?"

"Dad!" Miley turned around abruptly and walked over to her dad. "Did you take out the trash from my room?"

Mr. Stewart nodded and pointed his spatula towards the piano. "I saw that rose in there, though, and I thought you might would have regretted throwing it out so it's over there."

Miley followed her dad's hand and saw it sitting there - the rose Jake had given her, laying gently upon the piano.

"Is that the only thing you saw in there, Dad?"

"Yeah, why?" He asked, looking at his frantic daughter. "What's wrong?"

Miley didn't answer. Instead, she ran for the front door once again but she was too late. By the time she opened up the door and ran to where her mailbox was, she frowned. The trash was already gone and surprisingly enough, so was the garbage truck.

"Miley?" Mr. Stewart walked over to his daughter, placing a hand upon her small shoulder. Lily was standing in the doorway, a frown upon her face.

Miley didn't say anything. Instead, she turned around and collapsed into her father's arms, crying even harder than before.

**- The Key to Miley's Heart -**

"I'm sorry, Bud," Mr. Stewart called to Miley as the three of them walked into the studio to finish shooting the video, _One in a Million_, for Jake's show. They just got back from looking at the trash sight, where they managed to track down the truck and the spot where the trash was dumped. Unfortently, after an hour of looking through everything, they found Miley's small trash bag but the key was no where to be seen.

"Yeah," Miley just shook her head and headed for the dressing room, dressed in her blonde wig and all. "I'm going to go for make-up."

"I'll go with," Lily called with intentions of following Miley and Miley wouldn't let her.

"You've been a big help, Lily," Miley managed to smile. "But right now, I just want to be alone, okay?"

Lily and Mr. Stewart exchanged and finally, Lily nodded and took a step back. Miley made her way to make-up. There were two make-up chairs next to one another. One was already occupied with Jake Ryan in it and the other was there, empty. Miley sighed. She didn't feel like being here. She didn't feel like seeing Jake but in the long run, she knew she was going to have to. Before she could move to go sit next to Jake, he spoke up.

"Hey, you're late," Jake said, looking at Miley in the mirror. Then, he turned around to face her. "How come?"

"Long story," Miley shrugged and made her way over to Jake. She took her seat and looked at herself in the mirror. "Where's Linda?"

"She had to talk with the director about something," Jake shrugged. "She'll be back soon."

"Okay," Miley nodded and went silent. Jake, who was rather observant towards Miley's feelings, wouldn't let the silence grow.

"What's wrong?"

Miley sighed and placed her head in her hands. "Everything."

Jake nodded. "Well, I'm here, you know, and considering Linda talks a lot... we have quite a bit of time."

"Not now, okay?" Miley asked, looking at Jake. "Please, just not right now. This is something Miley needs to handle. Not Hannah."

Jake nodded. "I can walk Miley home. Milos is in my bag."

Miley stiffed a laugh. "Okay."

**- The Key to Miley's Heart -**

"So this," Jake stopped walking and gently placed his fingers under the silver, light chain of the locket. He lifted it up a little so that he could get a good look at it. "Is your heart?"

"More or less," Miley shrugged. "It sounds silly, I know, but..."

"No," Jake interrupted Miley and shook his head. "No, it's not silly. It's - enchanting."

Miley blushed and looked away from Jake's eyes. "Yeah, I guess so."

"You lost the key?"

Miley nodded, ashamed. "I'm so careless."

"Is the end of it the shape of a heart?" Jake asked.

Miley's eyes shot open and she looked at Jake, hope suddenly in her eyes. She watched him as he dug through his jeans and she gasped when she saw him pull out the key.

"I found it in your dressing room after you left last night. I wanted to talk to you."

"You - you found it!"

Just as Miley went to grab the key, her hand had stopped in midair when she heard Jake's next words.

"I love you, Miley."

She felt his hand with the key in it grab hers and intertwine their fingers. His other hand took her waist and he pulled her to him, crashing his lips upon her own. Miley tensed at first and she didn't know quite what to do until finally, she decided to let her guard down and she closed her eyes. She didn't need to say she loved him back - he already knew.

And to what some people would think of as eternity - Jake and Miley didn't seem to think it was long enough. They pulled away from their passionate kiss and without opening up their eyes, Jake and Miley let go of hands. Jake felt the key still in his hands.

He opened his eyes to find Miley's brown ones looking back at him, love built deep within them. Just when he was about to give her the key back, Miley stopped him.

"You take better care of it than I do myself," she smiled and grabbed his hand once again. "You always had my heart, Jake Ryan, and you always will."


End file.
